Humanoid Motion Planning

Overview

Humanoid robots have the unique potential to move about, interact, and perform tasks in our world with the great flexibility and agility that humans do. Unlike industrial robots, they are not limited to a fixed base; and unlike wheeled robots, they are not limited to flat or smooth terrains. They have the potential to interact with us as personal assistants in our homes, welcome us as tour guides, and even augment our own abilities through prosthetics and haptics. However, humanoid robots also present us with deceptively complex challenges in sensing, mechanics and biomechanics, motion planning, and artificial intelligence research.

Planning and control are essential for humanoid robots, particularly when it comes to developing motions for locomotion (e.g. walking, kicking, dancing, etc.) and manipulation (e.g. pushing, grasping, etc.). A human-like robot usually has many degrees of freedom, and must usually stay balanced and stable to stay safe and consume the least energy possible.

RoboPatriots: GMU's Humanoid RoboCup Team

The RoboPatriots are a team of thee humanoid robots sponsored by the Department of Computer Science at George Mason University. The RoboPatriots compete in the difficult humanoid division of RoboCup, an annual international autonomous robotic soccer competition. Here, the RoboPatriots must be able to autonomously stay upright and fulfill the task, despite severely limited computing resources; a noisy, unpredictable world; and coarse, imprecise sensors. This scenario yields research opportunities in many areas, including motion and path planning; simulation and modeling; localization; and multiple-robot planning and coordination.